The Salt Grows Heavy

From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

“Narrator Susan Dalian viscerally conveys the gruesome body horror while deftly capturing the lush imagery.” - Library Journal

“This brilliant novella is not to be missed.” -Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

1141976653
The Salt Grows Heavy

From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

“Narrator Susan Dalian viscerally conveys the gruesome body horror while deftly capturing the lush imagery.” - Library Journal

“This brilliant novella is not to be missed.” -Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

10.99 In Stock
The Salt Grows Heavy

The Salt Grows Heavy

by Cassandra Khaw

Narrated by Susan Dalian

Unabridged — 2 hours, 54 minutes

The Salt Grows Heavy

The Salt Grows Heavy

by Cassandra Khaw

Narrated by Susan Dalian

Unabridged — 2 hours, 54 minutes

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Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Cassandra Khaw fits rich descriptions into each and every sentence on every single page. Visceral, vivid and dripping with horror, we follow a mermaid and a plague doctor on a most bizarre journey. No spoiler alerts on where the journey takes us, but do know, you will be on alert the whole way.

From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

“Narrator Susan Dalian viscerally conveys the gruesome body horror while deftly capturing the lush imagery.” - Library Journal

“This brilliant novella is not to be missed.” -Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.


Editorial Reviews

Library Journal - Audio

06/10/2024

It's a familiar tale—the story of a young mermaid who yearns for life on land and trades her voice for the love of a prince. But many forget that mermaids are dangerous, with sharp teeth that are ready to devour anything in their path. Khaw (Breakable Things) tells of a voiceless mermaid whose daughters have consumed the entire kingdom, leaving little more than a wasteland. Joined by a mysterious plague doctor, the mermaid flees into the frozen forest, only to discover a village of mutilated, bloodthirsty children. The children are controlled by three ghastly "saints," surgeons who toy with immortality and resurrection in unimaginably cruel ways. Though this grotesque, torture-filled tale of a mermaid who has seen the worst of humanity is captivating, some listeners may find Khaw's intricate language frustratingly impenetrable. Even so, narrator Susan Dalian viscerally conveys the gruesome body horror while deftly capturing the lush imagery. VERDICT A quick listen that should appeal to fans of Khaw's Nothing but Blackened Teeth or those looking for a horrific take on the ever-popular The Little Mermaid.—Elyssa Everling

Publishers Weekly

★ 02/13/2023

In this twisting and pitch-black horror tale from Khaw (Nothing but Blackened Teeth), a voiceless mermaid plucked from the ocean ventures into a snowy forest alongside a melancholy plague doctor. These unlikely traveling companions soon encounter a village of mutilated children and uncover the architects of this bizarre encampment: three surgeons obsessed with immortality and the reconstitution of the body. As more of the village’s terrible secrets come to light, the mermaid and the plague doctor must rely on each other to survive. Khaw’s prose is rich and gorgeous (“In my dreams, I still swim that soundless black, still travel its eddies of salt and cold nothing”), and the surprising tenderness at the story’s heart is only magnified by the violence and gore that surround it. Both elements prove devastatingly effective in constructing a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique for contemporary horror fiction. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed. (May)

From the Publisher

A Best Horror Book of 2023 (The New York Times, Library Journal) A Best Book of 2023 (NPR) • A Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award Nominee! An Indie Next Pick

“Khaw’s poetic prose and stylish approach to gore make it a blood-soaked, unforgettable gem.” —The New York Times

“Devastatingly effective…a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

“With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author.” —Library Journal, STARRED review

“A feverishly gory, grotesquely beautiful and baroque fairy-tale-meets-love-sonnet. Cassandra Khaw’s imagination is limitless.” —Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts

The Salt Grows Heavy will hit you in your heart and in your gut at the same time, while never losing its grip on the gorgeous prose that makes Khaw’s work so spellbinding. It’s another riveting success from one of horror’s finest storytellers.” —Paste Magazine

“Cassandra Khaw’s writing is never more lyrical than when they’re describing the knife in your heart. The bones of a fairy tale sunk deep in a charnel house of descriptive prose, an elegant confection with a blood-soaked core. I devoured it in one sitting.” —T. Kingfisher, multi-award winning author of What Moves the Dead and Nettle & Bone

“[B]eautiful in its darkness; much like the mermaids of lore — before they were transformed into manatee-sweet, soft-haired sirens — it has teeth. Readers in the mood to savor a silver-tongued little nightmare will sink happily into its depths.” —NPR

“Khaw has cemented their status as horror royalty, once and for all, with The Salt Grows Heavy….a grotesquely perfect feast.” —Locus

“A gorgeous and gory horror fantasy novella that thrums with the pull of the deep.” —Shelf Awareness, STARRED review

“Grotesque, devastating, and oddly heartening, Khaw’s voice stands out in a world mired by uncertainty and all-too-human monsters.” —Tor.com

“A beautifully gory book…. The Salt Grows Heavy will delight and horrify you.” —Chicago Review of Books

“Short but action-packed, unctuous, and deliciously creepy, a mash-up of Angela Carter’s dark fairytale retellings and the poetic love story core of This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019).” —Booklist

“A grim, fantastical story…The Salt Grows Heavy leaves readers indescribably hungry, ready to beg for more.” —Rue Morgue Magazine

“Khaw uses poetically beautiful words to tear open your chest and gnaw on your ribs in this needle-sharp novella.” —Kaaron Warren, author of Slights and The Grief Hole

“Cassandra Khaw’s writing is immaculate, with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. The Salt Grows Heavy is a truly mesmerizing story and one of the finest works of horror and dark fantasy I have ever read, dripping with a gruesome and disquieting passion.” —Grimdark Magazine

“Khaw’s writing is masterful, and their horror is gruesome and gleeful, rendered in prose so grisly, you have to pick it out from between your teeth.” —Gizmodo

“Cassandra Khaw’s steely prose is matched only by the inventiveness of their imagination. The Salt Grows Heavy demonstrates their continuing mastery of the novella form with a story Angela Carter would be jealous to have written.” —John Langan, author of Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies

“A brutal and deadly romp whose language is as sharp and glittery as a scalpel made of ice. Strange and compelling, The Salt Grows Heavy is unlike anything else out there, a dark spell with needle-like teeth.” —Brian Evenson, author of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell and Song for the Unraveling of the World

Praise for Nothing But Blackened Teeth

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER A Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Award Finalist! An Indie Next Pick! An October LibraryReads Pick!

“Brutally delicious! Khaw is a master of teasing your senses, and then terrorizing them!” —N.K. Jemisin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fifth Season

“This is a glorious poem, a slow-motion collapse leading to the inevitable haunting. It is beautiful and it is brutal and it is heartbroken. Absolutely recommended.” —Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway

“Imagine chucking House on Haunted Hill, Japanese folklore, Clive Barker, and Kathy Acker into a literary blender. Nothing But Blackened Teeth reads like the ghost-punk noir you never knew you needed. It's sharp, playful, and nasty as hell.” —Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song

“Khaw’s prose oozes dread....Horror readers and folklore fans will find this tale of terror to be brutally satisfying.” —Publishers Weekly

“Khaw’s tale seems to come at you straight, setting up your story expectations, but then twists the knife at the last minute, leaving you reeling, but wanting more.” —Richard Kadrey, New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series

“Khaw's got a sterling premise, enduring lore, and the fresh talent to voice it.” —Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box

“Delicate and disgusting...Each page holds an image more finely drawn and disturbing than the last.” —T. Kingfisher, author of The Twisted Ones

“This book burns and crackles and slithers, its prose as beautiful and deadly as its horror. Cassandra Khaw is a master of the terrifying tale.” —Sam J. Miller, Nebula-Award-winning author of Blackfish City

“Reading Cassandra Khaw is akin to watching a nightmare ballet, full of beauty and elegance, pain and fragility, and breathless terror. Nothing but Blackened Teeth is mesmerizing. Don’t miss it!” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands

“Khaw is a prose wizard who has quickly become an auto-buy for me. This story of a wedding at a malevolent manor is as unexpected and delightful as their poetic approach to horror, and I loved every sharp, delicious twist of it.” —Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles

“This is Hill House for this century, this is Belasco House with people we’ve known since third grade, and it’s got a smile so wicked you might just have to grin along with it. I know I did.” —Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians

“Khaw is always compulsively readable. This was a wonderful haunted-house story, modern characterizations in compelling tension with a lyrically beautiful ancient Japanese residence." —Kij Johnson, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards

“Readers looking for bite-size horror on a stormy night will appreciate Khaw’s twisted tale.” —BookPage

“What with poisonous relationships, parasite houses, and ghost brides, Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a really bad idea for a wedding, and a really great idea for a nightmare-on-the-page. This book is so magnificently rotten it writhes with literary maggots, and deserves a place of honor among its peers in horror.” —C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans: Stories

“A deft and creepy haunted house story, written in a lyrical style that heightens the disorienting, phantasmagoric nature of the tale. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is the kind of story you lose sleep over." —Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World

“If Guillermo del Toro directed The Ring, it might play out something like this engaging thriller. Japanese mythological creatures come to life in this dynamic, unique tale that will satisfy horror readers eager for fresh blood.” —Booklist

“A feast for the senses. Deeply enriching, twisted, and deliciously dark, the upcoming novella is a definite must-read.” —The Nerd Daily

Library Journal

★ 04/01/2023

What if the Little Mermaid laid eggs and her hatched children's hunger laid waste to her prince's land? Khaw's (Breakable Things) latest novella tackles this question with a brutally visceral but seductive opening sequence. The mermaid, who's been held captive and rendered mute by her husband, meets up with the only survivor in the land, a plague doctor. They soon come upon a band of children gleefully hunting another child at the direction of their keepers, "The Saints," three adult cult leaders who rebuild the near-death child with parts taken from themselves. Told in three sections, each satisfyingly complete as its own story, and ending with a cliff-hanger, this compelling tale features strong worldbuilding, innovative uses of body-horror tropes, lush language, and a captivatingly direct narration as it takes the protagonists and readers on a journey to contemplate what it means to be "saved." VERDICT With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author. For fans of sinister, thought-provoking, horrific retellings of Western classics by authors of marginalized identity like Helen Oyeyemi and Ahmed Saadawi.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940175060202
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication date: 05/02/2023
Edition description: Unabridged
Sales rank: 620,571
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